An Exmoor pony in Suffolk

There are a few of these wandering the Heath at Knettishall Heath.  Their grazing serves a valuable natural function in keeping the scrub down.

When booking my Covid vaccination on the NHS internet site, the nearest vaccination site offered was Bury St Edmunds (a 70+ mile round trip from our village).  But at least it wasn't a long wait - I was able to book just 5 days ahead.  We decided to regard it as an opportunity for a day out.  So today was the day, and since we woke to decent weather, and the forecast was for showers, but not till later in the day, we set off early, and stopped off at Knettishall Heath for a little walk. 

The light was very flat - we had just occasional glimpses of watery sunshine - and the ground was distinctly muddy in places.  But it was nice to get out and walk somewhere new.  Getting across some of the muddy stretches on logs that had been dropped by earlier walkers put my improving balance to the test.  The rain held off until we got back to the car, where we attempted (and failed) to boil a little kettle using the 12V socket in the car.  We made do with cold water with our crisps and chocolate (very healthy, lots of "vitamin C") snack, and then drove on down to Bury.  We struggled to navigate through the city - our satnav tried to take us down a closed road, but once at the vaccination site all went smoothly, if slowly.

I had the Astra Zeneca version, so probably have limited protection against the South African variant.  W had the Pfizer version, so we are a living experiment in the relative efficacity.  We drove home through persistent drizzly rain, and tried to absorb and rationalise the usual chaotic soundbites regarding the lifting of lockdown.  We'll see.